Best of CASE District III Award
 

Institution: North Carolina State University

Title of entry: Black Bird, Fly

About this entry: The cover of the summer 2021 issue is a portrait of birder and scientist Deja Perkins — a black woman who helped start Black Birders' Week to draw attention to racism in public spaces. The cover concept is Perkins looking through her binoculars; in them we see an adult showing a duck taking flight to a child, much like Perkins' first experiences with nature. We wanted to go beyond a typical photographic portrait, so we hired an illustrator to use a scratchboard technique to create the image of Perkins’ face looking through binoculars. The use of a form of engraving, in which black ink is removed to reveal a pattern, gave the image an organic look. Minimal use of color helped focus attention in specific areas. In a sense the subject is also looking at the reader, as we are looking at her.